Many governmental and public service agencies use emergency alerts to inform the public of weather events, hazards, natural disasters, and other events that have public significance. Current emergency alerting systems are “system” bound, in that the alerts are presented to the public via television and/or radio broadcast systems. Although the current “Emergency Alert System” has evolved over time, the system has not been able to keep pace with technological and social change.
For example, as entertainment and news options have expanded, many people only infrequently, if at all, consume broadcast television or radio. Instead, people might consume streaming content over an Internet connection or play content stored on local, customer-owned devices, and obtain news from websites, and the like, which are not part of the traditional emergency alert systems. As a result of this shift in entertainment and news consumption, many people might not be exposed to emergency alerts in timely fashion.
Thus, there is a need for an improved framework for distributing important information, such as emergency alerts.